One problem to consider, though, when watching live television from afar would be the long distance charges on your iPhone, as well as the iPhone’s battery life. It would seem a rather drastic affair if you were to invest all the time, and air-time costs , and have your iPhone’s battery die 15 minutes before the end of the show. One major bonus of the Slingbox 3G app is that you can control your PVR, watch recorded or live television shows that you have on your television. So, if you have the full line-up of channels, including all of the high-definition channels, then you can watch any of those channels wherever you are.
Not much unlike a PVR, the box-top set that is required to attach to your television costs around $300 for the HD model, and is required for use with one of the more expensive apps at the App Store, the Slingbox 3G App, coming in at a relatively expensive $30. With the cost of airtime for watching a one-hour episode of Lost, plus the hardware and the app costs, make it a rather expensive portable television, of which many are on the market. But there is a major difference between portable televisions and an iPhone with Slinbox 3G loaded and running.
The difference between the Slingbox 3G on an iPhone and a portable television would be that with Slingbox 3G, you get to watch anything that is live on your television at home, or recorded on your PVR. If your bus is late, and you are going to miss the series finale of Lost, then having the Slingbox 3G app on your iPhone would make you the envy, and hopeful seat-mate of everyone else on your bus. The Slingbox 3G app would also be ideal for campers who are religious about their live sports, like soccer, baseball, NASCAR racing, football, and so on.
So, if you are a major fan of television, and can’t stand missing shows when they air, then the Slingbox 3G app is right down your alley as one of the must-have apps for your Iphone. That is, until the next app comes along which allows you to control and watch your PVR from anywhere using your iPhone, and that should be in the works in someone’s basement right about now.
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